jinoman

Hi,

My wife is planning to take her 3rd driving test attempt when she is back in UK this August on summer vacation. However, we have few queries that hopefully some one with similar experience can help us with,

She is pregnant and will be 5 months then, would there be any restrictions in taking a driving test because of this.

Since we became ME expats our contact address for all our local UK services has been my UK office address. Will this be fine as an address proof for the DVLA. We operate a joint UK savings account and the statements for this always comes to my UK office address. Can I use this as a address proof for her.

It is really proving too difficult for her to obtain an Oman driving license and she prefers to make further attempts in a much more familiar environment.

Any comments / suggestions will be greatly received.

Cheers

Big_Show

I'm afraid I can't help with you queries, but I wa just wondering what the process for getting a license in Oman was like? I've just learnt to drive & passed my test in Qatar, and it also was a pretty awkward process. Your wife has me sympathies if it's anything similar!

Mogs

My wife got her UK driving licence whilst home for the summer a few years ago (thankfully she passed 1st time). We just used her mother's address which was fine (probably better to use a residential address than a company address).

I would doubt your wife's pregnancy would make any difference.

themajor

Being pregnant makes no difference. However an office address is NOT acceptable. It must be residential with correct post code. Get the address sorted asap. Good luck.

OleJanx

It used to be that you had to have held a British licence for a year before the Omanis would allow a swap.

FriendlyExpat

Be careful - when applying for a UK license you have to state you are UK resident - this could cause tax issues down the line, plus if she's not UK resident it's technically fraud (very unlikely to cause problems, but you never know).

Also she definitely shouldn't use her UK license to drive in the UK if she wasn't UK resident when applying for it. If she had an accident her insurance may be invalid on this basis. I'm not certain but suspect this also applies to a provisional license so she may be taking a risk by having lessons/doing the test.

Obvously if she was / is UK resident then no problem and all the above can be ignored.

Bahtatboy

Where's Blue Cat?

themajor

Therre are NO regulations re using a UK driving licence in UK. I have lived all over the world. I took residence in three different countries (for tax purposes) I used my UK driving licence on any trips to the UK and it was and still is legal to do so.

Inselaffen

Wrong. Your current residential address need to be on your driving licence and you cannot have a current residential address in the UK if you are resident overseas.

so you may have used it but it wasn't legal

Inselaffen

my Mrs gave up on trying to get a licence in the UAE. If you are a local you can hit a kerb etc during the test and still pass. For non-locals they can just make up dome BS to make you fail.

she was once given the reasons for failing as driving too slow and driving too close to the car in front!

themajor

Correct! However one can still to be able to drive on an existing UK driving Licence.

I have retained my Saudi and South Africa driving licenses and can use them to hire cars in the UK as well.

I now have a new Cypriot Driving licence and unfortunately had to give up the UK licence in order to get the Cypriot. I have an old UK licence, card and paper if ever i return to the Uk in order to claim a UK licence.

Bahtatboy

Exactly what does that mean?

themajor

What it means is that many many expats still have property in the UK. That address is still on there UK driving licence. This means that they can still use the UK driving licence effectively.

here in Cyprus many ex pats are resident here but maintain a property in the UK.

FriendlyExpat

Yes, a UK driving license remains valid (for 10 years) even if you leave the country (although there is a question as to whether you can still lawfully use it after you've left).

Where it definitely gets tricky is if you need to renew or replace the license because the application form requires you to confirm and declare that you are still UK resident.

Even if you make a false declaration, everything will be fine unless you have an accident and the insurance company digs around and finds out that you made a false declaration. Worst case scenario - your insurance could be invalid.

jinoman

Thanks all, very useful pointers.
Ok, in that case the address had to be sorted first and the best option is to maintain the current address as in her provisional license. We may have to request the current resident in the property to allow us to this address. As changing another address now would mean that we have to provide address proof from the recent past.

Obviously the other thing to consider then is the underlying resident tax issues, but if we aren't going to stay there for long then I guess chances of her to get into insurance issues are very slim I would imagine, hopefully!

The only thing that worries me is the lessons and test bit, whether she would be questioned about the resident status?during this time...

Big show, it is pretty horrific here in Muscat based on what I have heard from people but there can be some good days, especially for women! The examiners can be a real pain with no understanding, so you could guess what that would mean for the people!